'Four for Future' Slate Wins School Board Race

New School Board members Vince Schoemehl, Darnetta Clinkscale, Robert Archibald, and Ronald Jackson

By Kevin Lavery, KWMU

St. Louis, MO. – The four candidates put together by Mayor Francis Slay swept the city-wide election yesterday, establishing a new majority on the St. Louis School Board.

Vince Schoemehl and Darnetta Clinkscale easily won three-year seats on the board; Robert Archibald and Ronald Jackson each attained four-year seats.

While each agree the search for a new superintendent will be their most immediate priority, Schoemehl acknowledges other concerns. "We are obviously going to have to deal with budget issues," the former mayor said. "And then we've got two labor contracts with the service workers and with the teachers that are coming due."

Though they ran together, Clinkscale admits the four won't always be of like mind, saying "there won't be rubber stamps. But we will commit to work together. We've got some outcomes we've got to get, and we've got to work to get those."

Archibald says he's concerned about how the district's central administration delivers services to each school. "The school board needs to be able to pay its bills on time," he said. "It needs to see that just basic supplies are available to the schools, because if they aren't,teachers can't teach, morale is poor, things that students require for education aren't there."

Jackson says he's looking forward to working with the three incumbent board members, saying they all want "the same thing."

"If you share a common goal, it's agreeing on the path that is the challenge that we as board members will have to overcome and make happen," Jackson added.

The newly structured school board will meet for the first time next week.

In other races on Tuesday, former alderwoman Bernice Jones-King was voted back into office in the 21st ward; a month after a successful effort to kick alderwoman Melinda Long out of office.

City voters also approved a $2 billion project to renovate Lambert Airport, and said 'yes' to a $120 million dollar bond issue to air-condition more public schools.